Napkin negotiations net Stephens $160,000 salary in Bartlett

Bartlett schools Supt. David Stephens' $160,000 annual salary was negotiated in a process that involved sliding napkins across the table at a restaurant on Stage Road.

The discussions between Stephens and Jeff Norris, the Bartlett City Schools board chairman, began shortly after the suburb's five-member school board unanimously selected Stephens on Dec. 20. After follow-up telephone calls the next day to hash out the details, the principal parties were on board with the terms.

"We negotiated my contract in a restaurant on a napkin. We had some pasta and a glass of iced tea, and a couple of hours later, we were ready to go," said Stephens, a Bartlett resident and now-former deputy superintendent of Shelby County Schools,

By all accounts, the negotiations moved smoothly, Stephens likening the talks to buying a car and avoiding the dickering. He knew the advertised salary range was $140,000 to $160,000, so he worked within those parameters.

"(The negotiations) were not combative, but I'll tell you, it is not a very fun process to go through," Norris said Friday. "In the end, you want the same thing; I'm looking for a contract he's comfortable to sign, but yet also one that there is not going to be an outcry from the public, from the (school) board, from the mayor and board of aldermen. When you are sitting there negotiating this contract, there are a lot of audiences you have to think about."

In addition to the $160,000 annual base salary, the basics of the agreement call for Stephens to make up to $20,000 in performance incentives, plus $500 monthly for expenses while using his personal vehicle, and $175 in cellphone allowances.

The school board approved the contract Monday after Stephens was selected from three finalists 10 days earlier. He is expected to officially move into the Bartlett position this coming Monday.

Norris said the "base salary was the toughest" part of the discussions because "we asked (Stephens) to take a $27,500 per year pay cut."

But Stephens was also at an apparent negotiating disadvantage. He left little doubt he wanted the Bartlett job, and the position was long considered his to lose even before the selection. He is a resident of the suburb — a requirement under the contract, by the way — and even said the night of his interview that his children would graduate as Panthers — a reference to Bartlett High's mascot. The four-year length of the contract seemed to be the maximum they could reach, while other terms — four weeks vacation and 90-day notice if Stephens decides to leave — were standard for superintendent contracts based on research of such agreements across the state.

Then there was John Aitken's contract in Collierville silently hovering over the negotiations. Aitken, the former superintendent for the county schools, will earn a base salary of $185,000 as that town's superintendent, plus the potential for $15,000 more in bonuses. One person advised Stephens to copy Aitken's contract, scratch out the name, put his there, and hand it to Bartlett leaders. Stephens said that was never a consideration, even though he kiddingly thanked Aitken "for setting the bar. But I knew I would never reach that bar, and it was never in the conversation."

"The first thing I told Jeff (Norris) was: ‘I'm not looking John Aitken money,'" Stephens related. "John's been superintendent of the year. I just wanted us to come to something the board could live with because I didn't want to tear up a relationship between me and the board over 50 cents. It's just not worth it."